2026: A Fresh Start and New Habits
Published on • Juan Luis
Refactoring My Routine: Goals for 2026
It’s been a while since my last post. I thought, what better time to talk about goals than now? Since we are starting 2026, it’s a new year with new goals, right? It truly is a fresh start, as many people refer to it. I have been thinking about my goals for 2026. Is this also a good moment for a retrospective? Those were so many questions—what a way to start this post!
First, Some of the things I accomplished in 2025
Professionally and academically, I worked on some freelance projects for a company, I reworked my entire portfolio, dove deep into machine learning this involved a lot of Python, CNNs, and transfer learning, spanning both supervised and unsupervised techniques, and I have been busy with my studies for my M.Sc. in Software Engineering. Personally, I visited many places in Europe and met some interesting people. However, I don’t want to dive deep into what I’ve done and what I haven’t. I want to share my thoughts on how I am planning to reach my goals this 2026.
My Plans for 2026
This probably happens to many of you, or maybe it doesn’t, but at least for me, when a new year starts, I think about the things I want to accomplish. However, that excitement often vanishes during the year. I have been thinking about what I can change to improve this, and I have come to the conclusion that I will start by changing small habits, things that are easy to achieve in the short term. For example, I will start to improve my sleeping schedule, eat better, and—maybe the cliché one, but still very important—start exercising.
Also, as a medium-term goal, I am planning to work on some interesting personal projects I’ve had in mind during the past months. Has it happened to you that you are constantly thinking of an idea, but it stays in your mental file folder because you never execute it? Well, this happens to me a lot. Since I mentioned this, another one of my goals is to avoid procrastination, which is a really bad habit of mine. Of course, this cannot be changed immediately, but I will be improving periodically. Lastly, one of my long-term goals is to finish my Master’s degree this year.
Final Thoughts
I’ve broken down some of my goals for this year. This is actually the first time I’ve written them down, which I believe is the first step. I have more goals in mind, however, I want to start small and focus on these before moving on to the more challenging ones. Even as I write this, more ideas come to mind. Let’s hope this is a great year. For whoever is reading this, I hope you also accomplish all, or at least most, of your objectives this year. I will probably write another entry at the end of the year sharing the things I accomplished. I am excited for this new year. I know plans do not always turn out as expected, but my mindset is to do the best I can to accomplish them. I read a phrase somewhere that goes something like this:
“If you do not try, you have a 100% chance of failing, unlike if you do try.”
It goes something like that; I hope you get the idea. As you may notice in these personal entries, I like to be informal and friendly. I think that makes it more personal. Without further ado, I wish you the best for this year, and may the force be with you during this 2026!